Tango music: Encyclopedia II - Tango music - 1920s and 1930s Carlos Gardel

Tango music - 1920s and 1930s Carlos Gardel

Tango soon became the first of many Latin dance crazes to gain popularity in Europe, beginning in France. Superstar Rudolph Valentino soon became a sex symbol who brought the tango to new audiences, especially in the United States, due to his sensual depictions of the dance on film. In the 1920s, tango moved out of the lower-class brothels and became a more respectable form of music and dance. Bandleaders like Roberto Firpo and Francisco Canaro dropped the flute and added a double bass in its place. Lyrics were still typically macho, blaming women for countless heartaches, and the dance moves were still sexual and aggressive.

Carlos Gardel became especially associated with the transition from a lower-class "gangster" music to a respectable middle-class dance. He helped develop tango-canción in the 1920s and became one of the most popular tango artists of all time. He helped inaugurate the Golden Age of tango, which ended after his death in a plane crash in Colombia.

Gardel's death was followed by a division into movements within tango. Evolutionists like Aníbal Troilo and Carlos di Sarli were opposed to traditionalists like Rodolfo Biagi and Juan D'Arienzo.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "1920s and 1930s Carlos Gardel", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki